Ripple Effect is a 4’ x 5’ woven fiber wall sculpture created from strips of hand dyed cloth made by participants from a performance of Weaving Water, held at Boom Island Park on Earth Day 2019 in Minneapolis, MN. The sculpture hangs from a 4’ length of copper drinking water pipe. It was commissioned by Great River Coalition to engage fun run participants in writing water wishes or pollinator promises onto strips of cloth that became part of the iteration of Weaving Water.

Weaving Water is a public art project exploring the intersections of water, weaving and shared experience both visible and invisible. Participants are invited to become part of an informal indigo dye and weaving workshop. They transform plain yarn or cloth through a series of steps: folding and binding the cloth or fiber, wetting in water from specific sources, in this case water was collected from the Mississippi River, dipping in indigo dye vats, and unfolding to reveal the pattern made. These dyed materials are transformed again as participants weave them into new cloth on the SAORI loom, obscuring the patterns made as these fibers becomes part of a new whole. The project transforms strangers into collaborators operating a full service fiber studio, transforming raw and recycled fiber into new cloth.

VIDEO

Project participant weaving on the SAORI loom

FUNDING

Sarah Nassif is a fiscal year 2018 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature; and by a grant from tlte National Endowment for the Arts.